Friday, 31 October 2014

So, carrying on with the JML, i know I've skipped the 25pts mark but il go back to it!

But tonight id like to talk about Unit Fillers. Oh and also an opportunity to show off my new unit of Brigands for 35pts JML.

Firstly, unit fillers. For those not familiar with Unit Fillers, they are exactly what they sound like. They are mainly seen in Warhammer Fantasy, and are mainly ways to reduce the need to paint dozens of models and/or if you need volume of miniatures but for a cheap price.

Now, the trick to unit fillers is trying to make it look natural to the main unit and fit in nicely.

As you can imagine, this is a lot easier in Warhammer Fantasy where a unit filler for Lizardmen could be an overgrown rock, or a row of grounded spikes for a spearman unit. This works well as the rank and file nature of the game can lead to some amazing dioramas wishing units and adds to the overall feel of the game.

Now, trying to transfer that same feeling into a skirmish game is a lot difficult, and even as I write this, I'm not 100% sure I'm 100% happy with my unit fillers.

The reasoning behind my use of unit fillers is because I'm too poor to afford the extra models to make a unit, and the fact I broke one by accident because I a rage fit trying to glue one together and promptly threw it across the room.

Here they are below.

They are nothing too flashy, just some barricaded/crates. Well the paint job on the units isn't anything too flashy, took me less than 4 hours to finish the unit as time wise restricted between work and uni!

Photo porn

More photo porn

Things To Think About:

(1) Are unit fillers acceptable? When does having loads of unit fillers look silly?

(2) Unit fillers wouldn't be accepted in official tournaments. Well DERRRRP

Tuesday, 28 October 2014

Since I finished University fairly early, I decided to call up Riot from a another blog. Il link it down below somewhere.

A quick game, 20pts. I tried something completely new, using units and models I normally never would.

My list is below...

Lylyth, Herald of Everblight (-6pts)

Afflictor Light Warbeast (4pts)

Shredder Lesser Warbeast (2pts)

Min Blighted Nyss Swordsmen (5pts)

Max Spawning Vessel (3pts)

Max Grotesques (6pts)

5 Incubi (5pts)

Now looking back... I realised I'm one point down! So I would have added a Shephard in but eh, mistake are mistakes.

Now the mission is Supply and Demand, consisting of,

(-) Enemy/Friendly Objectives. 1pt if enemy objective is destroyed. Models starting within 4" of an uncontested friendly objective may charge or run for free.

(-) Central Zone. 1pts for Control, 2pts for Dominate.

Below is the deployment.

Going into this game, I knew I wouldn't be able to get a Caster Kill. I simply didn't have enough hard hitters to deal with heavy stuff specially the Nomad. The best chance I had was to hold objects and systematically use my Swordsmen to hit a single target at a time while shielding them from the gunners. Secondly, il try to get a Caster kill if the opportunity arose. The only way of doing that was to put something so juicy in front of Magnus that it will force him out and spend his Focus. Meaning potentially putting Lylyth just within his ranged threat range or leaving a nice blob of infantry.

Now this is the first time I have taken a list without a heavy war beast. Which is very rare for Hordes armies. My plan is for the grotesques to fly forward and hold up the enemy, while feeding my spawning vessel as I advance, and then lastly, have my Swordsmen hit anything on the counter charge. Meanwhile, when an opportunity arises, I have 5 Incubi ready to spring up and cause an annoyance and maybe stop shooting and get a few sneaky back strikes in.

I'm planning on sending the Afflictor and Shredder into the Long Gunners with Lylyth providing the support.

Fast forward a few turns and here we land. I go first and with all warmachine and Hordes games, I run everything forward, getting into position. Now I realise I have to play smart, shield the spawning vessel since the shredders that come out will be my transfer targets since I plan on using Lylyth very aggressively along with the Warbeasts. Meaning I'm expecting the Warbeasts to take damage which concludes to me not being to transfer as much damage to her as id like.

As I start to play Lylyth aggressively, Riot makes some aggressive plays of his own! He sends both of his Renegades out and on the first blast, he rolls triple sixes to hit with the Obliterator! AFTER he rolls 6,5,5 for damage... Needless to say, that was a transfer... Using my one and only transfer!

So being knocked down... The SECOND Renegade waltz up and let's fly with his one. Dealing a massive 12 Damage. Thankfully, there isn't anything else left to shoot as the Long Gunners had used there shots to clear the chaff in front. Mind you, Riot has also forgotten to double shoot, that may have altered the result!

On the other flank, Riot's Nomad charged a handful of Grotesques. Needless to say, they died easily, but they did fill my Spawning Vassel and prevented any damage towards the Swordsmen. During my next turn, my Swordsmen, Grotesques, an Incubi and a Shredder worked together to deal with the massive clump of metal. It turns out, two of the Swordsmen weren't needed as the first Swodrsmen dealt a whopping 12 damage at a -6 modifier. Reducing that 'Jack to a pile if scrap.

Still reeling from the Obliterator shot, Lylyth shields herself from the ensuing onslaught. Who says a pair of tits can't help you!

I didn't get a photo... But Magnus came with a boosted shotgun shot and missed by 1! Left with no Focus... He popped his feat, he brought his renegades in front, in an attempt to stop me from getting the last 2 control points needed to secure a scenario victory.

Unfortunately, Lylyth took this opportunity sensing that Magnus was at his weakest, she cut herself to gain the last two fury needed, leaving her on one HP.

Thankfully, Riot used Magnus to try eliminate Lylyth. So it was Lylyth's turn. Moved around the side, popped her feat, giving her an additional dice to hit, boosted damage, buy another shot, boosted to hit, boosted damage. Game over.

Great game full of high dice rolls. There was some hairy moments, Lylyth walking around on 3 HP and the Gunners chasing her down.

But, none the less, closest game I've had in a while!!

Lessons Learnt

(1) be careful of incoming fire. I left Lylyth very low on Fury and nearly got punished.

(2) Grotesques and Legionnaires are great for tar pits. I should use them more often.

(3) don't underestimate infantry, all it takes is one nice dice roll and it can all go Pete Tong

Monday, 27 October 2014

So last time we spoke of the Thornfall Battle box with Carver, 1 Warhog and the 2 Gunboars.

Now, we speak about the next step. 15pts.

Now Thornfall, unlike every other faction, lacks the variety for us to choose from.

If you chose to go for Carver's Golden Horde, you'd have even less to choose from!

So what should you go for? Let's see.

Farrow Bone Grinders.

Now, coming in at 3pts for a maximum size unit, these would be my go to unit for 15pts JML. Now they aren't THE most amazing models in army, but they have a lot of uses.

Firstly, they have access to a magical attack. But, it's only one, and for every other grunt B2B with the leader its a cumulative +1 to hit, which makes your one shot leader hitting with Magic Ability 11! So he's pretty sure to hit.

The other side to this unit is there Bone Magic. When a friendly warbeast dies, they are able to cast that animus as a spell. this is incredibly useful for when your Warhog dies and you really need that situational Massacre animus.

Razorback Crew

Now this is the other viable option, coming in with a POW15 range 14 rocket. Being Light Artillery, they obviously have a few limitations. First of all, it move or fire, meaning you need to get into position fairly early. Also, they are only one wounded models, so any sniper like Kell Bailoch or eiryss will range with you and snipe you quicker than a black man shoplifting from a Chicken shop.

In my JML i actually did go with the Razorback, simply because i had an awesome proxy which is below. Check out the other blog which i've linked into the first post.

Now there are other models which you can take, like Saxton Orrick or Victor Pendrake. Now these are great, but they are not able to be taken in the Golden Horde Tier lost and that should be your goal towards week 6 in JML.

Wednesday, 22 October 2014

Welcome back to my NEW blog, as I mentioned before, previous bosses being dicks etc, blah blah bollocks talks.

Let's get it started, today, while I'm sitting on the train, we are going to talk about MOTHER FUCKING PIGS WITH SHOTGUNS!!!!!!

Thornfall Alliance.

Now, since these guys aren't a proper army, they don't have access to a Battlebox "starter set" as you will.

But for those who do want to shell out £60 odd, you do have the option of some very expensive bacon.

Now let's look at the components and how they function.

Lord Fucking Carver, The Bringer of the Most Massive Fucking Destruction, Esquire the Third. Abbreviated to Lord Carver, BMMD, EsqIII.

So Lord Carver, what does this guy do, other than carry around a massive Phallic Symbol and a Shotgun? Well to be brutally honest... Not much. He is by far our most versatile Caster. But you WILL be in two minds on HOW to play him. His spell list leads to some interesting plays, and depending on which ones you favour, you'll be using him differently.

Firstly, Batten Down the Hatches. At Cost 3, this will take up 50% of your Fury, but it is well worth it. At the cost of -2Def, you gain +3Arm and you can't be knocked down. This turns our Arm17 Gunboar, and Arm18 Warhog into Arm20/21 walking Tanks. More on that later, but you can already see the uses this brings. Farrow Warbeasts are easily hit, bringing them to Def10 but watch your opponent forced to boost damage. On average 2d6 dice rolls, the weapon power needs to be 14/15 to scratch! That's a lot higher than MOST infantry weapons.

The next most useful *in my opinion* is Mobility. Cost 2, it gives everyone in the battle group +2Spd and Pathfinder. Gun boars can run 14" and your Warhog is now a respectable Spd6. Immensely important for such a slow faction. Needless to say, there is little else I need to explain.

Next is Quagmire. Now this spell can save face mid-late game. Once your beasts have hit the front line, Mobility is pretty pointless unless you need your beasts to rapidly redeploy. I believe this is your next port of call. When in base to base with target friendly model/unit, your opponent suffers -2Def and can't move except to change facing. Put onto your Warhog mid game and he's effective Mat8. The most efficient way I use it is to slap it onto a Gunboar, and then run that boar onto an opposing heavy or threat, he can't move that model which will buy you a turn. The uses are endless, and I will explain more as I get to more units.

Lastly, Rift. It's expensive, but it still has it's uses. Some people use this every turn. Mainly, to impede opposition movement, **WELL DURRRP** can be helpful getting rid of pesky Incorporeal solos.

AND AND AND, let's not forget, he has a POW15, Reach, Magical, HUGE fucking sword. With a Shotgun, let's not forget the Shotgun. Can do a Double Barrel special attack but if you are having to resort to using this shotgun, something has gone terribly wrong!

His Feat... Plain and simple, everything in his control area gets Overtake and an Addition dice for melee damage. Simple, pop feat, smash shit, done.

Warhog

The good old Warhog. Nothing to say about him.

He's SPD4, so he's a little slow, but Arm18 is fairly decent. Now under Carver with Batten Down the Hatches and Mobility... Yea... This guy is quick and he's lethal.

His only schenanigan is his Agression Dial. Forced once, he gains +2Str but takes d3 damage. Force him 4 times and he has a P+S 23 Gore attack and two P+S 24 Axes. Nasty, but you are taking damage while doing it!

Also don't forget, force him too far and he may lose an aspect, specially since his Mind is particularly low.

Secondly, every force he takes d3, meaning when he is finished smashing the shit out what ever he's attacking, and believe me, he WILL but fuck something, he's going to be on the receiving end next. That d3 or 2d3 that you just took may have lost you your Warhog.

THIRDLY! Forcing to gain +2str, or force for another attack? You COULD roll that double 6 three times in a row... Or you could go for the certain pure damage... It's a judgement call.

If you 'MathHammer' it out, Arm18 go for at -2, anything higher you are better forcing for more strength. Every situation is different, but that's my normal philosophy.

Gunboar x2

I have a saying, Gunboars aren't fun boars.

They are ok, pillow fisted, high armoured tanks. Under Carver's spells they do ok. But don't expect a high damage output. Their animi although, does allow Carver to play more aggressively and punish anyone who choses to pursue him. Or allows the Gunboar itself to hold infantry at bay.

And that's all they should be used for, use them as speed bumps for your opponent to have to deal with before your Warhog smashes shit, set your Warhog up for a charge next turn, then put the Gunboars in front so he's safe. Being Arm20 under Batten Down the Hatches, these pillow fisted Ham Joints can take a lot of punishment!

That's the Battlebox for Farrow/Thornfall explained. Hope it was useful, and next time, il explain how to proceed to the next level which is 15pts.